NBC News Bemoans 'Plight' of Fast-Food Workers' Low Wages

On Thursday, NBC News reported that fast-food workers are upset with their level of pay. “They work for some of the biggest businesses in the United States, yet they are among the country’s lowest-paid workers,” wept Barbara Raab, senior producer on NBC News. “On Thursday, fast-food workers staged walkouts at McDonald’s, Burger King, Taco Bell and other restaurants in New York City to call attention to their plight.”

Raab quotes Elba Godoy, “a crew member at a McDonald’s just a few blocks from Times Square,” who earns $7.25 per hour, which “helps support her extended family of seven.” Raab quotes Godoy complaining, “We cannot survive on $7.25.” Why Godoy is supporting seven people on a salary of $7.25 per hour remains mysterious.

According to Godoy and her fellow strikers, minimum wage should be $15. Which, of course, would lead to her being fired – or at least many of her compatriots hitting the road thanks to cutbacks necessitated by higher salaries.

Raab quotes the National Employment Law Project, which claims that fast-food restaurants are subsidized by the government in that many on minimum wage also receive benefits. She does not mention whether the government should cease paying benefits in order to incentivize fast-food restaurants to pay higher wages.